Could Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” become a player in this year’s presidential contest between President Barack Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney?

The film isn’t scheduled for wide release until December 19, more than a month after the election, but the latest trailer has just hit the web. Co-starring such actors as Jessica Chastain and Kyle Chandler, the new clip makes clear that this is an adventure tale, the story of a seeming impossible mission that pulled off the improbable–taking out terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

In the wake of the success of “No Easy Day,” a bestselling book about the bin Laden raid by one of the actual members of the elite SEAL team that killed him, another popular depiction of the story could serve to bolster the president by reminding the electorate that it was the Obama administration that accomplished the milestone national security goal when previous administrations had failed.

The movie has already been the subject of some controversy, with some critics asking whether the Defense Department released classified information to Bigelow and writer and producer Mark Boal. A SEAL team planner’s name was handed over to the filmmakers, but the Pentagon has said there was no security violation.

On the movie website Comingsoon.net, one user posted “Propaganda film…nothing more.” Bill Weir, an ABC Nightline anchor, tweeted that the trailer was “the best campaign ad Obama 2012 didn’t have to pay for.” Several conservative commentators have also complained that the movie–even thought it’s still unreleased–could boost Obama’s image.

On Slate’s culture blog, Forrest Wickman wrote of the new “Zero Dark Thirty” trailer “Some have accused ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ of rolling out this fall in order to highlight one of Obama’s biggest victories in advance of the election. (The movie will now be released in December, but critics still point to its fall marketing.)” The article concludes “The timing of the film’s release is surely an attempt to court a different kind of voter: Those who elect Oscar winners.”

Director Bigelow is one of the most critically-acclaimed directors in Hollywood, and became the first woman to win the Oscar for best director for her 2008 movie “The Hurt Locker.”

In an Entertainment Weekly interview that’s linked to on the movie’s official site, Boal said that there’s “no political agenda in the film.” He added “A lot of people are going to be surprised when they see the film. For example, the president is not depicted in the movie. He’s just not in the movie.”

Watch the new trailer. What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.